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Uranium hexafluoride, sometimes called hex, is an inorganic compound with the formula U F 6. Uranium hexafluoride is a volatile, toxic white solid that is used in the process of enriching uranium , which produces fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons .
Uranium hexafluoride is the feedstock used to separate uranium-235 from natural uranium. All uranium fluorides are created using uranium tetrafluoride (UF 4); UF 4 itself is prepared by hydrofluorination of uranium dioxide. [6] Reduction of UF 4 with hydrogen at 1000 °C produces uranium trifluoride (UF 3).
Uranium hexafluoride UF 6 is the only compound of uranium sufficiently volatile to be used in the gaseous diffusion process. Fortunately, fluorine consists of only a single isotope 19 F, so that the 1% difference in molecular weights between 235 UF 6 and 238 UF 6 is due only to the difference in weights of the uranium isotopes.
Depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUHF; also referred to as depleted uranium tails, depleted uranium tailings or DUF 6) is a byproduct of the processing of uranium hexafluoride into enriched uranium. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is one of the chemical forms of depleted uranium (up to 73-75%), along with depleted triuranium octoxide (up to 25%) and depleted ...
Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235 U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation.Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 U with 99.2732–99.2752% natural abundance), uranium-235 (235 U, 0.7198–0.7210%), and uranium-234 (234 U, 0.0049–0.0059%).
It can be made by heating uranyl nitrate to form UO 2. UO 2 (NO 3) 2 · 6 H 2 O → UO 2 + 2 NO 2 + ½ O 2 + 6 H 2 O (g) This is then converted by heating with hydrogen to form UO 2. It can be made from enriched uranium hexafluoride by reacting with ammonia to form a solid called ammonium diuranate, (NH 4) 2 U 2 O 7. This is then heated to form UO
A hexafluoride is a chemical compound with the general formula QX n F 6, QX n F 6 m−, or QX n F 6 m+. Many molecules fit this formula. Many molecules fit this formula. An important hexafluoride is hexafluorosilicic acid (H 2 SiF 6 ), which is a byproduct of the mining of phosphate rock .
The key physical process in all of them is an infrared laser, which vibrationally excites only one of the isotopes in gaseous uranium hexafluoride. This requires a wavelength near 16 μm. Traditional MLIS then continued to excite the molecules unto dissociation, at which point they crystallized as uranium-235 pentafluoride.